Retailers, manufacturers, and consumers should get ready for another disruptive year in the retail marketplace. This is because eCommerce is growing and changing at a rapid pace especially in emerging economies.

If you want to continue boosting sales and conversion rates over time, it’s important to stay ahead of the latest online shopping trends. In this article, we’ll cover 6 top trends for eCommerce in 2019.

Mobile/App-only Transactions

With the increased number of eCommerce penetration in Nigeria and Africa at large, mobile eCommerce is expected to get faster and seamless. According to the Jumia Mobile Report 2018, 79% of users used their mobile phone, 18% used desktops and a mere 3% used tablets to access Nigeria’s no 1 shopping destination. Hence, it should be a little surprise that mobile e-commerce is about to get much faster and more fluid as eCommerce firms blur lines between sites and apps. So, expect the Jumia app to be super fast this year. Most transactions, especially the super amazing deals will happen only on the mobile. The apparent benefit of shopping on a mobile App is that you spend less data to make your purchases, compared to buying directly on the websites via mobile.

Social commerce becomes more popular

Since Jumia pioneered eCommerce in Nigeria, it has been a reliable means of buying items online. Another interesting dimension to eCommerce is the use of social media to transact business and there is no gainsaying that many young Nigerians have been very successful in marketing their businesses via social media. Even eCommerce businesses are not lagging behind as they now have active social media accounts for not only interacting and marketing products, but to perform real-time transactions. And this is what is expected to trend this year as consumers will be able to buy directly on social media platforms.

Voice search

Businesses do not joke with Google as it is very key to sales and turnover. They now optimise their services to appear top in search engines. The next phase is voice search. As Google Assistant and Alexa become more popular, voice search on mobile devices is being used more often to make purchases. Optimising your eCommerce shop for voice search can position your business to receive more traffic in 2019. For best results, be sure to mirror the language your target customers actually use.

Machine learning

AI-based eCommerce is still in its early development in Nigeria, but 2019 is definitely the time to begin utilising its potentials. Unlike simple automation, advanced machine learning allows you to deeply customize how individual users experience your brand. Beyond personalising specific fields according to customer data, email marketing campaigns can be triggered by patterns of customer behaviour such as purchase history. For example, if a customer habitually orders a product every few months, the system can send reminder emails prompting future re-orders.

Artificial intelligence

The rise of conversation AI (commonly known as chatbots) is one of 2019’s most popular eCommerce trends helping brands interact with customers at scale. In addition to answering common customer questions, messenger bots are also able to facilitate the buying process for online shoppers. This eCommerce trend provides massive value to busy consumers who demand immediate answers, regardless of the time of day or the platform they choose to contact. 

– Ogunfowoke, Adeniyi Ayuba| PR Associate | Jumia Travel & Food